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''It was the Calm and Silent Night 



A Christmas Hymn 



BY 



ALFRED DOMETT 



ILLUSTRATED 



OCT lj~1883 ' 



Of 



. ASHUi^^ 



BOSTON 
LEE AND SHEPARD, 47 FRANKLIN STREET 

NEW YORK 
CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM, 678 BROADWAY 

1884 



V 



Copyright, 1SS3, 
By Lee and Shetard. 



Atl rights reserved. 



Eamijritig? : 

PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND SON, 
UNIVE^:SITy PRESS. 



List of Illustrations. 

BY W. L. TAYLOR. 

Drawn and engraved under the supervision of 
George T. Andrew. 



Illustrated titlepage 

"It was the calm and silent night" . . 
" No sound was heard of clashing wars " 



PAGE 
I 



7 

9 

" Apollo, Pallas, Jove, and Mars held undisturbed their ancient reign " 1 1 

"The senator of haughty Rome" i-, 

"Triumphant arches gleaming" jc 

" What recked the Roman what befell a paltry province far away" . 17 

" Within that province far away " lo 

"Went plodding home a weary boor" 21 

"O strange indifference! — low and high drowsed over common joys 

and cares" 2T 

"The world was listening — unawares" 25 

"It is the calm and solemn night" 27 

"A thousand bells ring out" 29 

" For in that stable lay new-born " 31 




It was the calm and silent night : 

Seven hundred years and fifty-three 

Had Rome been growing up to might, 
And now was queen of land and sea. 




Apollo, Pallas, Jove, and Mars 

Held undisturbed their ancient reign, 

In the solemn midnight. 
Centuries asfo ! 




'T was in the calm and silent night ! 

The senator of haughty Rome 
Impatient urged his chariot's flight, 

From lordly revel rolling home. 




Triumphal arches gleaming swell 

His breast with thoughts of boundless sway; 




What recked the Roman what befell 
A paltry province far away, 

In the solemn midnight, 
Centuries ago ! 




Within that province far away 

Went plodding home a weary boor : 
A streak of light before him lay, 

Fall'n through a half-shut stable door 
Across his path. He passed; for nought 

Told what was going on within : 
How keen the stars! his only thought; 

The air how calm and cold and thin, 

In the solemn midnight, 
Centuries ago ! 




O STRANGE INDIFFEUEWCEI-LOWAND'HIGH 
DROVySEJ) over COma^o/^i 

'JOYS AW D cares: 





The earth was still — but knew not why ; 
The world was listening — unawares! 
How calm a moment may precede 

One that shall thrill the world for ever! 
To that still moment none would heed 

Man's doom was linked no more to sever, 
In the solemn midnight, 
Centuries ago ! 





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